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Boulder's Escoffier culinary school faces disability lawsuit

By Kristen Leigh PainterThe Denver Post

Posted:
03/04/2013 05:48:18 PM MST

Updated:
03/04/2013 06:05:12 PM MST

A deaf student and the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, CCDC, jointly filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court against Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder for refusing to pay for a qualified sign language interpreters for the admitted student's courses.

William Lawrence was accepted into Escoffier in the fall and claims the school led him to believe that it would provide and pay for interpreters in his classes. When classes begun, Lawrence was told that the school would allow the interpreters in the classes, but would not pay for the services.

The CCDC is basing its lawsuit on the Americans with Disabilities Act , which requires private schools to "take those steps that may be necessary to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services."

According to a news release, Lawrence cannot afford to pay for the interpreters himself and that the expense would qualify as "an unlawful surcharge."

The lawsuit is asking for a court order, requiring Escoffier to provide the interpreters for Lawrence and any other deaf student as well as damages and attorney fees.

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"Recently, CCDC has filed numerous lawsuits against law enforcement agencies for failing to provide sign language interpreters," said Andrew Montoya, CCDC legal program attorney, in a news release. "This is the first case CCDC has brought against a school for failing to provide interpreters."

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